Guide to the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. Korea Mission Records

The Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (PCUS) appointed its first missionaries to Korea in 1892. Stationed in Seoul, they evangelized among the city's inhabitants and itinerated throughout the Korean countryside. Working in cooperation with missionaries from the PCUSA, the PCUS missionaries took responsibility for the southwestern provinces of Chulla and Choong Chung. Mission stations were established at Chunju in 1895; Kunsan in 1896; Mokpo in 1898; and Kwangju in 1904. The missionaries established churches, held bible classes, and founded schools and hospitals. Between 1904 and 1910, PCUS missionaries helped to establish the first presbytery of the Korean Presbyterian Church, translated the scriptures into Korean, and founded the Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Places of worship increased from 42 to 307 during this period.

After Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910, the missionaries faced an increasingly unfavorable political and economic environment. As more missionaries came to the Korea field, however, they focused on consolidating and improving their position despite these adverse conditions. Soonchun station was established in 1913. Work among leprosy patients also began. Between the years 1910 and 1919, total membership in the Korean Presbyterian Church grew from 39,000 to almost 61,000. With the rise of the Korean Independence Movement in 1919, mission activity rebounded. Church membership increased at a rapid rate, and attendance at mission schools grew as well. The number of PCUS missionaries in Korea peaked at 98 in 1926. Reform within the Japanese administration of Korea led to better relations between the Mission and the government.

The Mission experienced financial difficulties in the 1930s as the Executive Committee of Foreign Missions curtailed funding. In 1931, the Korea Mission's budget was cut by thirty-three percent, and new missionary appointments were suspended. By 1940, the number of missionaries in the field had dropped to 58. However, the number of Korean pastors increased during this period; classes in Bible instruction grew; and the Mission's medical work continued to be effective.

By 1940, renewed Japanese hostility to Christian missionaries had led to the virtual shutdown of all missionary activity in Korea except for the leprosy colony. All American citizens were advised to leave Korea by the United States government. By 1941, only four PCUS missionaries remained. One, Dr. John Talmage, was imprisoned by the Japanese for 121 days in 1942. After his release, Dr. Talmage and the three other missionaries left Korea. No PCUS missionaries returned to Korea until after the conclusion of World War II.

The first missionaries returned in 1946, faced with the task of recovering mission property and rebuilding many of the mission buildings that had been destroyed during the war. By 1948, 29 missionaries had returned to the field. Kunsan station was closed due to lack of personnel. Despite postwar hardships, the Korean Church expanded in the period between 1945 and 1950. Five new presbyteries were established, and the Mission's educational and medical work continued to grow.

In 1950, Mission operations were disrupted once again by the Korean War. A few PCUS missionaries remained in Korea but most evacuated. Missionaries began returning to their posts in 1952 and once again ministered to the needs of the war-torn Korean people. The Mission returned to full operation in 1954, with more than 50 missionaries, increased funding, and new projects on the horizon. In 1956, Taejon College was established, and a station was opened in Taejon in the same year. In addition, the Ho Nam Bible Institute was founded in 1955 at Kwangju. In 1961 it joined with two presbytery bible schools to become the Ho Nam Theological Seminary. The Mission hospitals were also enlarged and improved, including the Graham Tuberculosis Sanatorium (which became the Kwangju Christian Hospital), the Presbyterian Medical Center in Chunju, and the Wilson Leprosy Center.

Divisions within the Presbyterian Church of Korea created tensions for the PCUS Mission at this time. Some of the tension was resolved in 1957 by redefining the relationship between the national church and the Mission to give more power and leadership to the Korean Church, with the Mission focusing on its roles in medical and educational work. In addition, a Committee on Cooperation was organized to coordinate the efforts of the PCUS, PCUSA, and Australian Presbyterian Mission in Korea.

The 1960s and early 1970s witnessed the expansion of existing Mission-related medical and educational facilities in Korea, despite continued political unrest. Evangelical work continued, and the Presbyterian denominations in Korea grew. In 1970, Taejon College merged with another Presbyterian school to become Soong Jun College. In 1972, there were 75 missionaries in the field engaged in a wide range of work at three medical institutions, a university, and four seminaries. PCUS missionaries were active in student work, lay training, and industrial mission work.

By the mid-1970s, decreased funding from the PCUS's Division of International Mission led to cutbacks in missionary personnel. By 1981, only 39 missionaries remained in the Korea field. With the reunion of the PCUS and UPCUSA churches in 1983, the PCUS Korea Mission ceased to exist. However, mission work in Korea continued under the administration of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).